Ellen of the "Moshpit" show, which airs on the SYN 90.7 radio station in Melbourne, Australia, recently conducted an interview with QUEENSRŸCHE vocalist Todd La Torre. You can listen to the full chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). On writing and recording with QUEENSRŸCHE since he took over as lead vocalist in 2012: Todd: "It's been a wonderful experience. We're touring constantly throughout the year, and so we're like a family. We're great friends. The writing experience happens on the road, it happens when we go home…we all have our unique writing experiences with each other. I'll write something with just Parker [Lundgren, guitar] or I'll write something with just Michael [Wilton, guitar], or Michael and Eddie [Jackson, bass] will work on something, or Scott [Rockenfield, drums] will work on something on his own and throw it over to me. There's a lot of different configurations in how the writing goes, but it's a lot of fun. It's a great experience." On whether he prefers to perform songs live from QUEENSRŸCHE's two most recent studio albums, or from the band's classic catalog: Todd: "Both. I really like to do both. Most of the songs we play span the back catalog, but when you have so many songs over a 35-year history, it's really hard to play half new stuff and half old stuff. I enjoy the new stuff because it was part of my creation with the guys, but then I also love doing the older stuff because it's what I grew up on and so I have a special place in my heart for those songs, too. I like doing both for different reasons." On working with producer Chris "Zeuss" Harris on 2015's "Condition Hüman" album: Todd: "It was great. He's a nice guy and a fellow musician, so he understands the language musicians speak. If he doesn't like a chord progression, he can pick up a guitar and play his idea and translate his ideas musically instead of verbally. That's a huge asset. A really funny guy, but also very down-to-business. The guy works endlessly around the clock. He was super-professional, and sonically, he did an amazing job. The record sounds fresh and very dynamic. We'll be using him again." On how he deals with the rigors of the road: Todd: "It's not an easy thing, that's for sure. And it's not for everybody. This year, for 2016, I've been gone probably 200 days out of the year or more. I'm married and it's hard to have balance in your life. It's a very tough thing, but the jetlag, I can never sleep well on an airplane, so that's always hard for me. Usually, even if vocally, if I feel really tired, like I haven't slept and I feel crappy, a lot of the times even if I feel like I don't have a voice, most of the time when the microphone is in my hand, nine times out of ten, I have a voice. Sometimes I'm amazed because I might have a bad soundcheck or feel like I don't have much of a voice, but when it comes time for the performance, I drink my hot water with hot tea more for just the temperature of the water, then you just do the best you can. We're certainly traveling a very long way. We go to Japan for the Loud Park festival, then we leave Japan and go straight to Australia. We've got four or five shows in Australia. When you don't even know what time it is — we're like ten hours apart, I think. It's hard to get your body adjusted when you're never in one place for very long. You really don't have time to get acclimated to the time change or the climate change, the altitude; there's a lot of things involved." QUEENSRŸCHE will embark on a month-long headlining tour of the United States in November. Support on the trek will come from ARMORED SAINT and MIDNIGHT ETERNAL. "Condition Hüman" debuted at No. 27 on The Billboard 200 chart, having shifted 14,000 equivalent album units in the week ending October 8, 2015. The band plans to enter the studio in January to write and record the follow-up to "Condition Hüman" for a late 2017 release.
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